Car stolen from under broken CCTV camera

by

The owner of a motor vehicle which was stolen in Ocho Rios is furious after the police informed him that the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed just metres away was not working when thieves made off with the car.

AndrÈ O'Connor said he parked his black 1990 Nissan B13 along the Ocho Rios bypass, between Irie FM and Petcom gas station last Friday, almost directly underneath one of the cameras.

"Up to 9 p.m., the car was there, but about midnight, somebody called me to say the car wasn't there," O'Connor said.

He said he made a report to the Ocho Rios Police Station on Saturday and also enquired about viewing the CCTV footage.

He was not able to get a satisfactory response on Saturday or Sunday, so he returned to the station on Monday.

"On Monday, the constable who took the report told me he spoke to the person who looks over the cameras and they said they didn't see anything because the cameras were not working, or that particular camera was not working," O'Connor said.

A visibly upset O'Connor said he wanted to know if these cameras are secured for the rest of Ocho Rios.

"This is a serious crime and they should have some information about what took place. Because the cameras are not working it's possible that the case will now go unsolved," said O'Connor.

Superintendent Gary Francis, commander for St Ann, said just like any other mechanical or electronic device, the system would be prone to malfunction at times.

"So, on the grid, we would have some working and some not working at any given time, and this is due to service issues. However, as soon as we get a report of any camera not working, we try to deal with it as quickly as possible," Francis said.

Francis was unable to say how many cameras were currently functioning.

The CCTV system was installed in Ocho Rios in September 2015 at a cost of $107 million through funding from the Tourism Enhancement Fund, through a partnership with the Ministry of National Security.

The police have said, in the past, that the system has been helpful in the solving of criminal offences in the resort town.